Groups Back Proposed QC Ordinance Banning Mercury-Laden Skin Whiteners

Quezon City-based groups urged members of the City Council to give its unanimous approval to an ordinance that will protect consumers, especially women, against mercury exposure through the use of contaminated skin lightening products.

At the public hearing held yesterday, the EcoWaste Coalition, Piglas Kababaihan and the Citizen Organization Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability (COCAP), as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), expressed support for the enactment of Proposed Ordinance 20CC-439 co-introduced by District 1 Councilor Elizabeth Delarmente and over a dozen other councilors.

PO20CC-439, if adopted, would ensure strict compliance by Quezon City’s business and commercial establishments, as well as street, tiangge and online vendors, of the national ban on skin whitening creams, lotions and soaps containing mercury above the 1 part per million (ppm) limit set by the FDA in line with the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive.

Elsie Brandes de Veyra, COCAP representative and former commissioner of the Philippine Commission on Women representing the elderly and the disabled,  pointed out that “mercury-laden skin lightening products are hazardous to health."

To illustrate the harmful effects of using such products, student interns at the EcoWaste Coalition showed to the councilors enlarged photos of victims afflicted with skin blotchiness, discoloration and scarring due to the use of mercury-laced skin lightening cosmetics.

Aside from serious skin problems, “direct and prolonged mercury exposure through the skin during repeated applications can cause damage to the brain, nervous systems and the kidneys,” the EcoWaste Coalition emphasized citing information from the UN Environment. 

According to community leader Mercy Donor of Piglas Kababaihan, there is a need for raising public awareness about the hazards of using mercury-laden skin whitening products. 

“Many ordinary consumers like us are not aware about the dangers posed by mercury-containing cosmetics that are supposed to give us flawless and whiter skin complexion.  The passage of the ordinance, we hope, will inform the public about skin whitening products that should be avoided to protect women and even babies in the womb against the harmful effects of mercury exposure,” she said.

For his part, Thony Dizon, Chemical Safety Campaigner of the EcoWaste Coalition, noted the paramount importance of local government’s support in putting a stop to the illegal trade of skin whitening cosmetics with high mercury content.

“The support from local government units (LGUs) in terms of public information and law enforcement will greatly reinforce the efforts of national government agencies such as the DOH and FDA to rid the market of cosmetics with banned ingredients like mercury,” he said.

“Enacting PO20CC-439 will demonstrate Quezon City Government’s resolve to safeguard its citizens against health-damaging products, as well as provide other LGUs with a model ordinance that could make the sale of mercury-contaminated skin cosmetics a thing of the past,” he added.

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